Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Help is needed to keep citizens cool as temperatures soar towards 40 degrees Celsius this week. The Upper Room Mission and Turning Points Collaborative Society are looking for donations of water to keep people hydrated. “This rising heat is so dangerous,” said the Outreach Team with Turning Points, which provides water and refillable bottles to those in need.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada estimates the insured damage caused by flooding in British Columbia last month at $450 million, calling it the “most costly severe weather event in the province's history.” However, the overall costs are expected to be much higher since many people affected by the flooding in southwestern B.C. were located in high-risk areas where flood insurance was not available, the bureau said in a news release.
‘Water sustains us, flows between us, within us, and replenishes us. Water is the giver of all life, and, without clean water, all life will perish.’—Assembly of First Nations “No human being, no animal or plant, can live without its water,” says Dawn Martin-Hill, co-founder of the Indigenous Studies program at Hamilton’s McMaster University. For centuries, the Unist’ot’en people have called Wet’suwet’en territory in British Columbia home. Their way of life is such that they can drink straight from the pristine Morice River (Wedzin Kwah) that flows through their land. Last year, construction began on the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline, posing a direct threat to the Morice. “We call it sweet water,” said Martin-Hill. “We had that everywhere. We had it here in Ontario.” “You know it when you’re drinking it. I’d rather have sweet water over running water.”
